"You don't care a thing about my stomach. You're just too lazy to go and get it."
"You gonna eat chicken or a lamb chop."
"Chicken. Why don't you get some new stories to tell me? I've heard all your old ones. I'll bet you know some good ones and are too mean to tell."
"You said it. You gonna wear that lilac chiffon again? It's got a stain."
"You can't have it, you're too fat."
"Not with my new girdle."
That was one thing about Cleo, Lucy thought in the taxi to Figente's, you never felt blue when she was around.
"You look like a melted Swiss cheese," she said to Figente.
"That's how I feel."
"I made up my mind on the way down I will go to Paris with Beman."
"Good," he approved. "You will not see the Paris I could have shown you, but Beman will do. Don't let him make you stay at the Ritz—that's where the parvenus go. Stay at the Meurice or Crillon. You won't be there long enough for an apartment at the Venddme. Be sure to see Hal so you can tell me how he is. Vermillion writes that his playing for Simone has made him quite a success."
So he had written to Figente too. Everyone but me. So that was that.
"I hope you intend seeing Nino, and that you will make the right decision about that," he said gravely.
"I hope so too. I wish you were going, I'd rather go with you than with anyone," she said, wiping the perspiration from his forehead and kissing it.
"And if you see Vermillion, tell him his old Figente misses him."
"I don't think I'll see him, I'll be busy getting my clothes," she said evasively.
It was hard to say goodbye, he looked so old and lonely. "You see that you take care of yourself. I'll only be gone three weeks and next year you and I will go to Paris together."
"I hope so," he said wistfully.
"I think you always ought to have some flowers in here to make it more cheerful. I'll leave an order at Thorley's."
